1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to small boats and methods for the assembly thereof. The present invention relates particularly to a dory having a fabric skinned wooden frame and inflatable sponsons, and a method for constructing the same.
2. Background Art
It is desirable to be able to custom build a small, flatbottom boat or dory to fit the particular size and shape available for storing it aboard a yacht. In the prior art, construction of small, wooden-frame boats has typically proceeded by first constructing a male plug in the size and shape of the desired boat. The plug was then inverted and construction of the boat proceeded by building a wooden frame about the plug, the wooden ribs and stringers for the boat hull being steamed and bent to conform to the shape of the plug. Once a plug had been created, it could be used numerous times to build identical copies of the boat. Alternatively, the hulls of small boats have been built on hull jigs; see, for example, the methods of boat construction disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,850 to Klopfstock, et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 2,697,235 to Gronli et al. These methods of construction suffered from the disadvantage that, if a boat of a different size or shape was to be built, a new plug or jig had to be created, which entailed time and expense.
The method of the present invention dispenses with plugs and jigs. Instead, a basket weave type, wooden hull frame, comprising lateral ribs and longitudinal stringers, extends from a stempost to a sternpost, and is assembled over a flat bottom. The wooden frame and is cradled by left and right garboards and by left and right gunwales that also extend from stempost to sternpost. A longitudinally-extended, inflatable sponson is mounted to each of the left and right sides of the hull frame. A water-impervious fabric skin is attached to the frame near the bottom and is wrapped around each sponson. The sponsons provide enhanced buoyancy and stability in water, absorb wave energy, and reduce the chance of impact damage to other boats. These advantages of sponsons combined with the flexibility of a basket-weave type, flexible hull frame, mean greater durability and longer useful life for a dory. Moreover, wrapping the sponsons with water-impervious coverings permits the dory to remain afloat for a time even if a sponson is punctured.
Sponsons have previously been incorporated into small boats. Frazee, U.S. Pat. No. 10,266, for example, disclosed a life boat having left and right, hour-glass-shaped sponsons, and a centrally disposed sponson, all joined by a frame; and Keeler, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 151,400, disclosed a life boat having chambers along the gunwales, secured in place by metallic fenders and an outrigger. Prior to my invention, however, a pair of sponsons have never been incorporated into a small boat by surrounding each of them by a water-impervious covering having a lower portion attached to the hull and an upper portion attached to the hull near a gunwale.